The Burmese came for me that night. I don’t know what I’d done wrong, but I wasn’t waiting around to find out, either. They did not look too happy, any of them, waving arms and guns, and shouting orders, and calling out rude names. So I split, left, took a hike, and quickly, out the back door and down dark alleys, hiding in shadows and avoiding all lights, for fear of being ‘outed’, me and my white skin, ripe for plucking, and easy to bruise and abuse…

So I headed for the river, since they were no hills, and I didn’t know where else to go. I needed a path out, and that’s what a river represents—a path out. Mountains represent something else—maybe infinity—and that’s my preference, but a river will have to do. They have to lead somewhere: that’s a law of nature. If I ever get out, then I’ll decide what to do next, and where to go… (More …)

No, I’m not a Trump apologist, though I know a few of his supporters, and they’re not bad people, not necessarily, though there are always a few baddies on both sides. I have yet to ‘un-friend’ anyone simply because they’re a Trump supporter, though that possibility rises in direct proportion to the extent that they choose to talk about it. When you’re from Mississippi you learn to choose your words carefully, if not STFU entirely, which is my greatest lesson so far from Buddhism: we all talk too much and say too little…

I am one of the few Dems I know who doesn’t dump friends because they’re DJT supporters, as long as they know how to STFU. Repubs should learn that trick, too. And many of them aren’t arch-cons, anyway, but conspiracy people, just like many of Bernie’s burners. And then there are Dems who wanted Trump to win just so that he could fall farther harder, and I can almost see that, just like the reasons to support ISIL, someone to shut down economies for the purpose of reducing Global Warming… (More …)

I like your emphasis on inclusiveness. The challenge is to go beyond differences to find similarities … or, at least, points to agree on. The discourse needs to deepen and become more creative … easier said than done. Your post is a well informed and argued start …

Peru had its own Marxist tendencies for a long time, but that seems to have subsided now.Not unlike the Shans in Burma and the FARC in Colombia, it’s sometimes hard to tell whether they’re revolutionaries or drug dealers.The Shan claim they no longer deal drugs but that’s probably only because heroin is not ‘in’ like the 1990’s grunge era and the Afghanis are back in business, also, after being shut down by the Taliban.Score one for capitalism.Peru is one of the few countries in the world that’s had a leftist military coup.Usually the army is in bed up to their necks with the rich and powerful.Peru, like Thailand and Haiti among others, is one of those countries where logic falls short of explaining events, and sexuality plays a larger than average role, like gold during a currency crisis.